After his eighth place at Phillip Island, 0.7 behind Maverick Vinales, Lorenzo measured with fear the distance he still had to go to bring the Ducati to the lead. Being behind Vinales, Marquez and Rossi is still okay, but finding himself behind category debutants like Jonas Folger and Alex Rins, Jorge knew there was danger in the red house.
It was therefore with joy that he returned to the Losail circuit, which is usually favorable to him and to Ducati. If some saw this new pair as the favorite for the first Grand Prix of the year, many expected to see it much better than in Australia.
And that's what happened on this first day, Lorenzo completing a total of 46 laps, and obtaining fifth position, 0.797 behind the leader, his teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
According to Jorge, “ It was my best opening day of these last tests. From the start, we were at the forefront. We were among the fastest before finishing the day in fifth place. It is important to emphasize that my teammate was very fast. This shows that the Ducati is very strong on this track and that I still have room for improvement.
“I don't have the perfect feeling on the bike yet, but with each outing I feel better and better. Also, this circuit is more to our advantage. Tomorrow we will continue to try other solutions, but the conclusions we reached today turned out to be positive. »
Chronos J1:
- Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati, 1:54,818
- Maverick Vinales, Yamaha, 1:55,179
- Cal Crutchlow, Honda, 1:55,420
- Karel Abraham, Ducati, 1:55,613
- Jorge Lorenzo, Ducati, 1:55,617
- Jonas Folger, Yamaha, 1:55,641
- Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, 1:55,679
- Dani Pedrosa, Honda, 1:55,691
- Johann Zarco, Yamaha, 1:55,704
- Andrea Iannone, Suzuki, 1:55,751
- Danilo Petrucci, Ducati, 1:55,829
- Marc Márquez, Honda, 1:55,900
- Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, 1:55,915
- Jack Miller, Honda, 1:56,015
- Scott Redding, Ducati, 1:56,084
- Álvaro Bautista, Ducati, 1:56,116
- Loris Baz, Ducati, 1:56,193
- Alex Rins, Suzuki, 1:56,941
- Pol Espargaró, KTM, 1:56,666
- Sam Lowes, Aprilia, 1:57,091
- Tito Rabat, Honda, 1:57,456
- Mika Kallio, KTM, 1:58,039
- Bradley Smith, KTM, 1:58,754
